The first NAB Charitable Giving Index shows that charitable giving is growing, despite a softening domestic economy, flat employment growth and persistent consumer cautiousness.

NAB and data analytics firm Quantium reviewed donations made by credit card, direct debit, BPAY and EFTPOS to develop the index and gain a picture on giving across the nation.

Key findings:

• During the first seven months of 2012, the NAB Charitable Giving Index increased by 4.7% y/y, exceeding inflation and up slightly from 4.6% y/y in the same period of 2011.
• Giving to Other charities (16.1%) experienced the fastest growth in January-July 2012, followed by Medical Research & Services (13.9%), Cancer (8.3%) and Health & Disability (8%). Humanitarian Services (-2%) charities were the only category to record lower donations.
• Humanitarian Services accounted for the lion’s share of giving in the year to July with 32% of total donations. Animals & Environment and Cancer had the smallest share at 7% and 8% respectively.
• Average annual donation size per donor increased 0.7% to $292 in the year to July 2012. Humanitarian services have the largest average donation size ($354), much higher than Medical Research & Services ($207) the second biggest recipient. Average giving was lowest for Cancer ($115) and Health & Disability ($119).
• By postcode, average charity spend per person in dollar terms was highest in Middle Park (3206) Victoria ($334). This was also 21% higher than Vale Park (5081) SA ($276), the second highest. NSW features most prominently in the top 10 suburbs for average giving nationally, with 6 of the top 10 postcodes located there.
• As a proportion of mean taxable income, however, residents from Lakes Entrance (3909) Victoria were the highest donors, giving 0.34% of their income to charity. On average, the top 10 postcodes from ACT (0.21%) donated most income to charity, while Queensland (0.16%), NSW (0.14%) and WA (0.13%) donated the least.

For further analysis download the full report.

•  Charitable Giving Index – July 2012 (PDF 102KB)